“Feb. 2 marked 25 years since a horrific school shooting at Frontier Jr. High School in Moses Lake. It marked 25 years since I lost my brother Arnie. It marked 25 years since another student and teacher were killed along with my brother. It marked 25 years since a classroom of teenagers, a school of students and faculty, and an entire community endured a traumatic event they couldn’t have imagined happening to them.

Sadly, I know the excruciating details of what happened to Arnie and his classmates. I know that they dove under their desks for protection. I know that they pleaded with the shooter to stop. I know that they begged the shooter to let classmates carry my severely wounded brother out of the classroom in an attempt to save his life. I know that a heroic teacher stormed the room and tackled the shooter, rendering him unable to continue the violence. I know that as that was happening, my brother was taking his last breaths in the school hallway. Through these details and others, I have some idea of the terror they faced in those minutes that felt like a lifetime.”

Read the full piece by Renée Hopkins in the Spokesman Review.